Never Speaking of Their God Again

When Alma and his brethren arrived among the Zoramites, they found that their bizarre and conceited worship was confined to a single day. After describing their prayer to God on the Rameumptum, Mormon wrote this, “Now, after the people had all offered up thanks after this manner, they returned to their homes, never speaking of their God again until they had assembled themselves together again to the holy stand, to offer up thanks after their manner” (Alma 31:23). As I thought about this description, it made me wonder how well we do in general in speaking of our God more often than just in our Sunday meetings. Are we guilty at times of speaking of the Lord in Church and then hardly talking of Him again until the next time we are assembled together? It was not so for the people of Nephi who described their focus this way: “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25:26). We too should talk of the Savior often, rejoicing and testifying of Him to our children and others. This instruction in the law of Moses surely applies to us in how we should focus on the Lord: “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). In our homes and by the way, when we are sitting and when we are walking, the words of the Lord should be in our hearts as we teach our children and others of the Savior.

                Much of our efforts to live the gospel consists of remembering. We covenant each week with the Lord according to these words: “[They] witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him” (Doctrine and Covenants 20:77). Unlike the Zoramites, we must strive to remember the Savior always, not just in our sacrament meetings once a week. The Lord’s promise was given to the Nephites when He visited them: “And this shall ye do in remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you. And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you” (3 Nephi 18:7). The Zoramites clearly did not have the Spirit with them because they did not remember the Lord; as often as we focus our minds and words on Him throughout our days and weeks, His Spirit will be with us. After Alma’s mission to the Zoramites, he was worried about his own children and much of his encouragement to his three sons was to remember what they had been taught. He said to Helaman, “I would that ye should do as I have done, in remembering the captivity of our fathers; for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it was the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Alma 36:2). He also exhorted his son, “O remember, remember, my son Helaman, how strict are the commandments of God…. And now remember, my son, that God has entrusted you with these things, which are sacred…. And now, my son, remember the words which I have spoken unto you;… O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God” (Alma 37:13-14, 32, 35). To Shiblon he urged, “And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day” (Alma 38:5). After reminding Corianton of the wickedness of his choices, Alma pleaded with him, “Cross yourself in all these things; for except ye do this ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. Oh, remember, and take it upon you, and cross yourself in these things” (Alma 39:9). Speaking of the fall of man, he also encouraged Corianton, “And now remember, my son, if it were not for the plan of redemption, (laying it aside) as soon as they were dead their souls were miserable, being cut off from the presence of the Lord” (Alma 42:11). Alma yearned for his sons to remember the Lord, to remember His commandments and His salvation, so that they would not come of the same wicked state of those at Antionum. His words and the story of the Zoramites are a warning to all of us to remember the Lord and His gospel not just in our Sunday meetings but in all that we do.